On the brink of the unknown climate
Overview
Among all the grand societal challenges we face today, climate change is by far the most daunting and pressing one. The painfully slow and inconsistent policy responses from governments worldwide, and the constant interferences (for example, political elections, the COVID-19 pandemic, or the ongoing economic crisis) that side-track decisive actions, despite ongoing and mounting evidence that we are heading fast in the wrong direction.
Enter “The Climate Book”, a timely and powerful plea for humanity to urgently address the impending crisis of climate change. A volume curated by Greta Thunberg, the world’s most famous environmental activist, the book serves as a go-to educational resource for all climate-related issues. Thunberg's powerful and impassioned voice reverberates throughout the book, urging us to confront the stark reality of our planet's fragile state, and redefine our relationship with the natural world for the sake of future generations. While the book employs the ‘tell it like it is’ patented style of Greta Thunberg to make a substantive and urgent case for radical change, it also remains cautiously optimistic about our ability to listen to the science and act decisively before our window of opportunity closes.
While focusing on many of the technical intricacies of climate changes and its consequences, the Climate Book also presents opportunities for social scientists to develop specific research agendas around climate-related issues. As such, this review article published recently in Journal of Business Ethics presents several ideas about the importance of macro-policies highlighting past failures to fuel global collaboration as opposed to nationalistic agendas that perpetuate inherent international inequalities. Likewise, our collective failure to place moral and financial value on nature has resulted in pontification of everlasting growth agendas and ignorance of environmental degradation as an externality without any responsibility. In addition, organizations have also a moral responsibility to act by listening to their stakeholders and taking a leadership role in the radical transformation of many industries, well beyond current CSR initiatives. Finally, as individuals we also need to do our bid by changing consumption patterns, educating ourselves and engaging more in activism to spur bottom-up pressures on organizations and governments to act.
In the words of Thunberg, “Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.”
Team
Principal investigator
Professor Sorin Krammer
Professor of Strategy and International Business | Research Lead, Dept. of Strategy and International Business | Sustainability Fellow - the Institute for Sustainability
Biography
Sorin M.S. Krammer is Professor of Strategy and International Business at Surrey Business School. Prior to joining University of Surrey, Sorin was a Full Professor of Strategy an International Business at University of Exeter Business School (UK), Associate Professor in International Business and Innovation at Leeds University Business School (UK), and Assistant Professor of International Economics and Business at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands).
Sorin has also held academic positions at MIT Sloan School of Management (USA), Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research -SIEPR- (USA) and a visiting position at Northeastern University-D'Amore-McKim School of Business (USA) in 2023. He is currently an Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor with the Department of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in Copenhagen, Denmark (2024-2025).
Besides academia, Sorin was involved as well as an expert consultant in several World Bank projects dealing with innovation and international competitiveness (of regions and sectors) in less-developed countries.
Sorin has published, among others, in top outlets such as Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Research Policy, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Organization Studies, Leadership Quarterly, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of World Business, Journal of Business Ethics, and many others.
His research has also been recognized in terms of excellence by various international professional associations, such as the Academy of International Business (Alan Rugman Best Young Scholar Award -2014- Winner), the European Academy of Management (Best Paper Award -2022- Winner) and the Academy of Management (IM Division Georgetown Best Paper in International Business and Policy Award - 2023- Winner). He has also won the "Researcher of the Year" Award (2023) presented by the Surrey Business School, University of Surrey. Moreover, his research has been successfully funded by various bodies such as NHIR (National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK), Otto Mønsted Foundation (Denmark) or SAMS (Society for Advancement of Management Studies, UK).
He currently serves as the Book Review and Associate Editor for Journal of International Business Policy and a member of several Editorial Boards of top journals, including Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Global Strategy Journal, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Sorin is also involved in the leadership of professional organizations, as a member of the Executive Committee and a Secretary of the Academy of International Business - United Kingdom and Ireland chapter (AIB UKI) and as the Chair of Scholarship and Engagement Committee for Academy of Management (AOM), International Management (IM) division.
Professional experience
Professor Strategy and International Business, Strategy and International Business Department, Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford, 2022-present.
Professor Strategy and International Business, Management Department, University of Exeter Business School, Exeter, UK, 2019-2022.
Associate Professor of International Business and Innovation, International Business Division (CIBUL), Leeds University Business School, Leeds, UK, 2017-2018
Assistant Professor of International Economics and Business, Global Economics and Management Department, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. 2010-2016
Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate, MIT Sloan School of Management and NBER, Cambridge, MA, USA. 2009-2010.